Meeting up with Yasuyo in Osaka

Osaka Travel Blog

The bus is running pretty fast in the beginning but when we approach Osaka we get caught in traffic and we are no longer on time- I am a bit tense because I have agreed to meet Yasuyo at 7 and the bus is supposed to arrive just before 6 and the clock is ticking and I am getting to town still later. I am not sure where the bus is actually going in town but I hope it is at a station - and indeed it is going to Osaka station which is great considering I left my luggage at that station earlier today before the hike. I get out and then I just need to find the right coin locker.

Finding the coin locker is not quite as easy as I had assumed it would be when I left my luggage this morning.

Yasuyo and me, Photo Christiaan

I had not taken much notice of where I had left the station and where I had put my backs - I figured Chris would know where we had left the station and I would easily be able to find my backs. But Chris didn’t go back here with me so I have to find my backs alone. My locker key got number 2157 and the first lockers I get to is number 7000 something - not really close to the coin locker with my backs. I am rushing around the station and it is big and pretty busy as well - actually there are lots of people all over the place which might be explained by the fact it is the third busiest train station in Japan - which coincidently makes it the third busiest train station in the world. I am getting slightly desperate in the search for my back. I try to ask where the locker but I haven’t got a lot of luck because the people I ask only speak limited English and don’t seem to know where the locker is located - the only thing they can tell me for sure is it somewhere else than where I am for the moment - great.

I keep semi running around the station looking for coin lockers - and suddenly I see a locker with number 2950 - I must be getting close - and there it is my coin locker.

Yasuyo and me, Photo Christiaan

I can get my backs and now I have to figure out how to get with the subway to my hotel. Fortunately that is pretty straight forward - I just need one subway to Namba station and another for one stop to my hotel.

I get to the hotel and I manage to check into my room and it is only ten to seven or there abouts. A couple of men working at the hotel takes me to my room - unfortunately one of them speaks a bit of English and finds it interesting to speak with a foreigner - and I really have not got the time for chitchat but I don’t know how to kick him and quickly. After what seems like an eternity - in reality it was probably about a minute - they leave my room.

I really need to leave right away if I am gonna get to the bridge at 7. But after the days hike I figure I better do a little test before leaving. I check the right armpit - yieks it stinks. Then the left armpit - it smells like something died in there. I definitely need a shower and a clean shirt before I can go out in public. I get a quick shower and some clean cloths and then I rush out the door - but I am running late by now it is already past 7 and I still have a 5 minutes’ walk to the bridge.

Yasuyo, Mickey and Christiaan, Photo Christiaan

As I am walking - some might call it running - towards the bridge I realize I forgot my camera - damn no time to go back and get it now.

I get to the main bridge and fortunately Yasuyo is still waiting when I get there 10-15 minutes late. She is dressed in the traditional yukata and suddenly I feel a bit underdressed - but at least my shirt is clean. Then we are spotted by Christiaan I met in Kyoto and said he could just join up with us here in Osaka tonight. We walk around the area to go and after a couple of attempts we find a restaurant which will actually accept us as customers. It is a bit strange we are taken through some back corridors and up to the top floor instead of the ground level like we thought.

After dinner we head out for a couple of drinks and we find a bar to have some beers and cocktails. And I get a change to extent my Japanese vocabulary with the word for a not too sweet drink. Unfortunately I never got the Japanese sign for it so it will be impossible to actually put it in writing.

After a good night it is getting a bit late - and in most of Japan late is anything after 11 because all trains and metros seem to stop at midnight. And Yasuyo and Christiaan will have to catch a metro to get back to where they are staying. We say goodbye at the station and I walk back to my hotel. I figure I will make up for forgetting my camera by walking out for a bit and take a couple of pictures at the night life at Dotombori. So I walk back and wonder up and down the street for a bit snapping a few shots at the crowd passing by.